Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami

At first, I kind of didn't like this book because of the similarity in plot and character(s) with Norwegian Wood. However, the plot took a different, more surreal twist like the Windup Bird Chronicle so I suppose I can't complain. This is the third book I read by Murakami and I still think he's my favorite author but I feel like a lot of his characters are the same. I wonder if the main characters are just alter egos of himself (or thinly disguised autobiographies of himself with the surreal just being a physical manifestation of the state of the narrator's mind). I mean I suppose its hard to have multiple personalities or whatever or to take on a different voice than what you're used to but all of these characters had pretty much the same personality. I like listening to Murakami through this voice but it makes me wonder if there's more to him than just this one voice and this one type of point of view.

This book was also pretty depressing but unlike the other two, it had a happier ending, where the narrator reached some kind of reconciliation with his mind and the world (or at least he was able to find some kind of consolation in reality).

At any rate, I still like Murakami's writing style and all that but I guess my opinion of him has gone down a little. I mean it's only expected I suppose and perhaps I was just drawn to the novelty of his writing style and the way he expressed certain ideas. I'm not sure. I do want to read the rest of his books (there seems to be some noise about Kafka on the Shore so hopefully it'll be different from the others).

*update* I read Kafka on the Shore, link here.

I mean thinking about it now, Murakami is kind of like a glorified Dan Brown. I mean obviously with a much more varied plot and more three-dimensionality than Brown but the core (the characters and to a certain extent, what happens to the characters) remains the same. Eh. Again, it's only three books and perhaps it just happened that those three books all happened to have a depressed character trying to get over the death of a friend/lover and has to live on in life and spends time traveling or isolated from society. There's always a point where the narrator's life stagnates and something (music, the surreal, a dream) that brings the character back.

It's funny though, with this book, I'm almost positive that he made a cameo (well if that's possible in books). With Yuki's dad - Hiraku Makimura just seems like a play on his name and Murakami totally portrays him as this douche guy that feeds into what he calls "advanced capitalist society." Is that how Murakami sees himself? And the fact that Yuki completely hates him. I thought it was an interesting touch.

I did like the ideas (motifs?) of shoveling cultural snow and advanced capitalist society. To put it simply, he basically says that everything in life - all the stupid rules and ways we live life right now is complete bs. I can't say I completely agree with everything the narrator had to say, but he definitely has an interesting point.

I also liked the idea of one's way of living life being a dance. Most people dance to the beat of society though some may be a little off-beat and others at different stages of the dance, but some people will choose to dance to their own beat. Others will try to take the dance and create something new and different - if it is well-received, it becomes the new dance.

Anyway, the book definitely gave me a lot to think about. I like Murakami's ideologies - I feel like there's a lot of truth to it and he has some fantastic quotes. Some of his ideas are trite and if anyone else besides Murakami tried to do the same thing, they would come off as boring and cliche. But Murakami is so skilled at putting it in a new way - he gives color to ideas that have turned gray from overuse. He makes you rethink the things you've taken for granted. That's what makes him a brilliant writer, plot and character redundancy aside.

Yeah, he's still one of my favorite authors.